AI Technology panic—is AI Dependence Bad for Mental Health? A Cross-Lagged Panel Model and the Mediating Roles of Motivations for AI Use Among Adolescents

Figures & data

Figure 1 The theoretical model of the cross-lagged effect and half-longitudinal mediation effect.

Notes: Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths. (A) is the theoretical cross-lagged model, and (B) is the theoretical mediation model.

Table 1 The Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Results of the Variables

Variables	M (SD)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	1	11	12	13	14
1. T1 Anxiety	1.82 ± 0.74	—	0.79	0.18	0.26	0.25	0.12	0.14	0.50	0.47	0.13	0.19	0.18	0.06	0.08
2. T1 Depression	1.68 ± 0.63		—	0.21	0.29	0.24	0.11	0.13	0.48	0.51	0.16	0.21	0.18	0.05^●	0.07
3. T1 AI dependence	1.52 ± 0.62			—	0.49	0.41	0.19	0.25	0.10	0.11	0.29	0.19	0.18	0.02^■	0.03^♦
4. T1 Escape motivation	1.64 ± 0.67				—	0.63	0.29	0.32	0.18	0.20	0.22	0.24	0.21	0.07	0.08
5. T1 Social motivation	2.00 ± 0.77					—	0.50	0.55	0.16	0.17	0.20	0.22	0.29	0.16	0.18
6. T1 Instrumental motivation	2.48 ± 0.80						—	0.75	0.12	0.10	0.06	0.10	0.15	0.28	0.25
7. T1 Entertainment motivation	2.53 ± 0.83							—	0.11	0.10	0.08	0.13	0.18	0.27	0.28
8. T2 Anxiety	1.73 ± 0.74								—	0.85	0.24	0.32	0.30	0.15	0.17
9. T2 Depression	1.65 ± 0.66									—	0.26	0.34	0.31	0.13	0.16
10. T2 AI dependence	1.70 ± 0.72										—	0.65	0.59	0.30	0.31
11. T2 Escape motivation	1.78 ± 0.74											—	0.76	0.38	0.38
12. T2 Social motivation	2.02 ± 0.79												—	0.55	0.55
13. T2 Instrumental motivation	2.48 ± 0.82													—	0.79
14. T2 Entertainment motivation	2.56 ± 0.85														—

Notes: ^●p = 0.001, ^■p = 0.150, ^♦p = 0.067; all other correlations without mark: p < 0.001.

Figure 2 Prevalence of AI dependence among adolescents by item.

Notes: Full item information has been added to Table S2 in the Appendix.

Figure 3 The cross-lagged effects between mental health problems and AI dependence.

Notes: Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths. (A) is the cross-lagged model regarding the depression and AI dependence, and (B) is the cross-lagged model concerning the anxiety and AI dependence.

Figure 4 The results of the depression → AI use motivation → AI dependence model.

Notes: Entertainment=AI entertainment motivation, Instrumental = AI instrumental motivation, Social = AI social motivation, and Escape = AI escape motivation. Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths. (A) is the mediation model between depression and AI dependence when mediator is entertainment motivation, (B) is the mediation model between depression and AI dependence when mediator is instrumental motivation, (C) is the mediation model between depression and AI dependence when mediator is social motivation, and (D) is mediation model between depression and AI dependence when mediator is escape motivation.

Table 2 The Indirect Effect of Half-Longitudinal Mediation Analysis

Models	Mediators	Standardized Indirect Effects (a*b)	p	95% CI
Depression →AI dependence	AI entertainment motivation	0.000	0.826	[−0.001, 0.002]
	AI instrumental motivation	0.000	0.529	[−0.001, 0.001]
	AI social motivation	0.005	0.001	[0.002, 0.006]
	AI escape motivation	0.008	0.000	[0.006, 0.015]
Anxiety →AI dependence	AI entertainment motivation	0.000	0.822	[−0.001, 0.002]
	AI instrumental motivation	0.000	0.560	[−0.001, 0.001]
	AI social motivation	0.006	0.002	[0.003, 0.009]
	AI escape motivation	0.009	0.000	[0.006, 0.013]

Figure 5 The results of the anxiety → AI use motivation → AI dependence model.

Notes: Entertainment=AI entertainment motivation, Instrumental = AI instrumental motivation, Social = AI social motivation, and Escape = AI escape motivation. Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dotted lines indicate nonsignificant paths. (A) is the mediation model between anxiety and AI dependence when mediator is entertainment motivation, (B) is the mediation model between anxiety and AI dependence when mediator is instrumental motivation, (C) is the mediation model between anxiety and AI dependence when mediator is social motivation, and (D) is mediation model between anxiety and AI dependence when mediator is escape motivation.